Ailsha: Haunted
Self-Released
Stream Previous Singles here
Out May 31st 2024
Firebrand par excellence and apparent purveyor of Sparklecore and having recently toured with Wargasm(UK) AILSHA releases her latest and heaviest track so far. MK Bennett investigates…
If Alt-Metal is a new and shiny machine or at least a new paint job on the same machine, it must always be evolving, shedding skin and moving forward. Ailsha has a background in game composition that has ensured a different approach, where Pop verses and Very Metal choruses combine to make an exhilarating whole, a fabulous modern noise, more than just the sum of its ever-moving parts.
Haunted is busy, busy like the National Grid when the footballs on, busy like a hive. Electronic squeals and pops, massive synth waves crash against each other, a lightness of touch that defies the dark heaviness of the chorus.
Lyrically, it is very much made with her aesthetic in mind, that gothic, faerie robot Magick, Bowie in Hunger, the sleek white and the vampire blood. The deception and the theft of empathy, ancient traditions, ancient and modern language.
Ailsha is being hailed by all the right voices (Radio 1, Spotify, Amazon) and the relevant big guns, but the point should not be forgotten that this is not Hyperbole, this is a genuine talent. Joining a current lineage of brilliant women taking no shit alongside the Nova Twins, Wargasm(UK) themselves, Delilah Bon and others, fragmented islands of excellence stretching across Europe and beyond.
Starting with the sound of Androids fucking, the introduction will wake you up on a sleepy afternoon, no holds barred until you reach the relative sanctity of the first verse, an oasis of calm before the collisional impact of the guitars fill the chorus with deep bass being dragged through a hedge backwards. The backing is inventive but never overly intrusive, allowing the push and pull of the drums to move it forward. Pure dynamics, refined chaos and the sure knowledge of the same sledgehammer tactics for the next three minutes rains down some pure joy. The drop and the breakdown bring some local linguistics into the mix, while the throat-ripping screams of the chorus stand out against the more melodic and measured verses.
An excellent stand-alone track/single, this sound of the new breed will surely ensure the freaks come out to play.
Ailsha is on a mini tour, predominantly local but occasionally throwing the net a little wider.
Live dates in 2024:
May 24th, Absent, Galway, IE
June 8th, Saint Luke’s Church, Glasgow, UK
June 21st, Dust Venue, Brighton, UK
August 3rd, Letterkenny Pride, Donegal, IE
September 27th, McHugh’s Venue, Drogheda, IE
October 4th, Kavanagh’s Venue, Portlaoise, IE
October, MCD Headline, Dublin TBC, IE
+ More TBA
Alisha’s Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram
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